Pride Goeth before the fall
by ayli1
Summary: Derek Morgan worries after they stop the bishop from finishing the exorcism in demonology. A new and suprisingly brutal serial killer in their own backyard brings the whole team to wonder if perhaps they made a serious mistake. One they can't take back.
1. Pride

Derek Morgan threw himself back onto his bed, it had been a hell of a day and he was exhausted mentally as well as physically. He didn't trust most religious figures. They had let him down when it was most important,. So he'd done his utmost to keep and open clear mind, even when it was screamingly obvious that something was wrong. The case was over, and Emily could begin to heal.

He couldn't sleep. He was exhausted. His body ached.

The words Emily's friend had yelled out to him as he dragged the priest from the room kept replaying in his head.

"Don't help them, they didn't help you when you were a boy!"

He didn't believe in demons.

Evil was a choice people made.

HOW did a man he'd never met before know about his childhood? Emily would never have shared that information. None of his co-workers.. Friends would have.

Did they make a mistake? Was there a demon inhabiting the young man they'd saved this evening? Would they or some other innocent pay for them stopping the exorcism?

He reached out to the nightstand for his cell phone. Looking at the display he rubbed his knuckles over his forehead.

He couldn't call and ask Garcia to keep a watch on Emily's friend. She'd probably do it for him, but how could he explain it?

"You see the thing is… Well I think.. Maybe he really was possessed? He might be a demon? I'm scared out of my mind and it doesn't make a damn bit of sense?"

Nope.. That wasn't a conversation he wanted to have.

Evil was a choice? Wasn't it?

There isn't any such thing as demons.


	2. Anger

8 days. 6 more to go.

8 days 9 hours…

Emily was tired and she was bored. She'd been told not to return to the BAU for 2 weeks. It had been 8 days. Her house was spotless. She'd spent two days cleaning and rearranging her entire apartment, on day 3 she'd put it all back. She'd cooked enough food to fill her freezer to overflowing, and JJ and Garcia had both told her they had no more room as well. She'd gone to visit Mathew at the cemetery twice, the first time she'd said goodbye, told him she loved him, missed him, always would. The second..

_Emily woke in the darkness, slightly disoriented be waking in her own bed she realized she was angry.. No, Enraged. Flying from the bed she tore through her room pulling on the first things that came to hand. She wasn't certain how she'd reached the cemetery or how she'd even gotten in, but the next thing she was aware of she was Screaming at Mathew's grave, cursing him. Her knuckles were raw from pounding at the gravestone. Collapsing to the ground as tears coursed down her cheeks she cried for the children they had been, and the man she would never see again._

She'd gone to Dave. It seemed an irrational choice at the time, but she wasn't exactly rational. So six am a miserably snowy Saturday found her sitting on the steps to his cabin in little creak. What was worse was the way she was dressed. Apparently what had come to hand was a sparkly purple tee shirt that proclaimed she was a spoiled brat, red socks and thank goodness for some normalcy regular blue jeans. Untill she realized it was the pair she normally painted or worked around the house on. In short to her mind she looked either like a vagabond or a teenager.

Dave stepped out onto his porch with a cup of coffee, blinking as he recognized the figure huddled on the steps.

"Well.. Emily did you plan on coming in or Do you enjoy freezing your ass off?"

She stood with a slight flush at his sarcasm. "Sorry Dave I'm not even sure how exactly I ended up here, I guess I just needed to talk.. And since you already know everything…." She trailed off with a out of character unsure shrug.

Dave smiled and ushered her in. He'd been expecting her to come talk. He'd figured it would take longer, perhaps even months, she was Very good at compartmentalizing, but this case had torn away all of her defenses, she was acting more like a frightened teenager then the strong woman he'd come to know. Taking in her strange choice in clothing and lack of shoes he could safely assume she hadn't planned on visiting herself.

He moved to the kitchen and filled another mug with coffee and handed it off to her, then lead her to the living room and the fireplace. He'd just started to ask about her lack of footwear when she burst out.

"Why didn't he trust me Dave?"

He stared at her sure that it wasn't an actual question but an exclamation of pain. She needed to let it all out before they could even consider having a constructive conversation.

"He was my best friend. I would have helped him, I might have been able to save him! Why did he go to his parent's? He Knew he was in danger, He saved me I would have moved heaven and earth to save him. Why didn't he come to me.. Why?" The wail that she made the last word into tore into his heart.

And for the second time that day Emily Prentiss collapsed to the ground in a sobbing heap, this time Dave was there to catch her and hold her through her tears. They sat that way for what seemed hours to him. He'd always been a man of action but he recognized she needed to let this out first.

"Emily we won't ever know what he was thinking, or why he didn't come to you. All you can know is you stopped it from continuing, you have all the answers you Can have. I'm sorry, it always hurts to loose someone you love, but when there are no answers it's even harder. Our minds search for order in the chaos but it isn't always possible."

He rubbed her back gently and levered them both into sitting upright before fireplace, settling the coffee cup into her hands he sighed.

"I wish I could offer you more Emily."

She patted the back of his hand with her own and smiled softly for the first time in days. "You have helped. Without your help during the case we couldn't have stopped them from killing John. I never told anyone about Rome before. You're a good friend Dave."

She sighed and leaned back against the couch, closing her eyes for a brief moment.

Several hours later she blinked awake and looked at her surroundings nice living room. Where the hell was she? Oh Little Creak. Dave. Oh goodness she'd practically broken into his house at a ridiculous hour on a Saturday then cried all over him and Then to top it all off she'd fallen asleep talking. She heard footsteps coming from what she thought she remembered as the direction of the kitchen. With a blush she tried to sit up and distangle herself from the blanket that had been covering her.

Dave didn't say anything about the morning or her falling asleep he simply asked if she'd slept well then ushered her into what was indeed the kitchen and offered her some amazing meetball soup and a pile of sandwiches.

"Thank you Dave… I uhm, sorry for just .. Well this morning.. You know that's not at all like me?"

"That's what family is for Emily."

She smiled as she realized that they had indeed become and although slightly dysfunctional family a family. It was nice to have a family.

"So, do you want to hear about the new case we may have soon?" Dave asked offhandedly as he chased the meatballs around his own soup.

Emily practically bounced in her seat. "God Yes! I'm So tired of being on vacation!"

"So.. Bodies have been showing up all over Virginia.. Nasty stuff…..


	3. Sorrow

-1It was going to be a long damn day. Hotch had been in his office since 5:30. He'd gone home last night to try and get some sleep but he knew that this unsub was going to fall into their lap today. The police couldn't try and claim it wasn't a serial killer when the newest victim showed up this afternoon. And it would show up. Just because the victims weren't similar the police had tried to claim that it was in no way shape or form a BAU case, but Hotch Knew in his gut that it was.

So far for the last ten days five people had disappeared, two days after they were kidnapped they were returned in a very public manner tortured, destroyed really murdered and viciously mutilated. Whoever this unsub was he not only wanted to torment his victims he wanted everyone to see what he had done, it was almost a form of torture for whoever found the bodies as well. It was day 10 so he knew the newest body was somewhere waiting to be found.

Of the ten victims, three were woman, one man and one barely teenaged girl. The only similarities they were privy to currently was the torture, but Hotch was convinced there must be some other underlying connection. All of the victims were missing exactly two days, they disappeared within hours of the previous victim's discovery. Two of the victims white, one Latino, one African American and one Chinese. There had to be some social link between them. But until the local police released it, they just didn't have enough information and he was impatient. He wanted to get this over with, catch the unsub and try to get his team back to some kind of normal. With Emily out of the office and Rossi pissed over that his team was fractured enough without trying to delve into the mind of a sadist.

Scrubbing his palms over his face he rose to his feet and moved to the window overlooking the bullpen. Morgan had been acting rather disturbed since that last case, but he always seemed to be disturbed when he butted up against any religious aspect. It was his one blind spot as an investigator. Garcia was of course off because Morgan was. And Reid, well.. Reid was oblivious. He seemed to be upset the first day that he'd put Prentiss on leave but after that had adapted and was currently ignoring Morgan and zipping through his paperwork.

Hotch wondered when JJ would be getting in so they could start prying this away from the local's He'd call them himself but it would just end badly. For some reason calling them irresponsible bastards tended to be off-putting.

At that moment JJ was trying to figure out how to carry the huge pile of files she'd taken home with her, her briefcase, and Henry's infant seat from the car and into the building. Just as she'd decided that there was no way to do this without making a second trip she noticed out of the corner of her vision what looked like someone sitting on the hood of the car two rows away. Something about it struck her as off for some reason, settling the infant seat back into the rear seat of her car she closed and locked the door after making certain her keys were in her pocket. She wouldn't normally consider leaving Henry alone in the car but this felt so wrong. It seemed safer to keep him locked away rather then let anything happen to him. Pulling her cell from her jacket pocket she pressed the speed dial for building security.

"Damn, no signal." Jennifer Jareau wasn't an easily frightened woman. She had a gun and she was a damn good shot. But a small voice in the back of her head just kept screaming. 'this is wrong wrong wrong stop! Go back grab your son and find a big strong man to hide under.' well she sure as hell wasn't going to listen to That voice. Later she'd wish for ever that she had.

Moving around the first row of cars her subconscious gave up the yelling and noted that the person leaning on the hood of the car looked vaguely familiar. Perhaps one of her coworkers just stopped for a moment to rest? Who would stop in the middle of the parking garage to take a rest? The whole thing was just strange and unsettling. As she moved closer she noticed the blood.. The car was red or she might have noticed it before she'd gotten so close. And then her mind shut down.

Will

No

Will?

Blood, so much blood, and his neck

NO.

She started screaming

And screaming

Her throat felt like it was going to explode. She could hear Henry from the car wailing. And she couldn't stop. Couldn't pull her eyes away from..

No. no no no.

Will was in New Orleans. He'd gone back to visit a friend of his for his wedding. She'd planned on going but with the new murders..

Oh no no. Not her Will. Not Henry's father No.

Her mind kept throwing out disjointed facts and her body wouldn't work. She wasn't even aware that she was screaming anymore until Derek Morgan was suddenly in front of her shaking her.

"JJ! Stop STOP! Don't look anymore! Close your eyes close them NOW!"

He gave her another hard shake and she looked up at him, blue eyes huge and glazed over. "it's not him." she whispered "It's not, he's in New Orleans, he left two days ago. He's safe. It isn't him it isn't."

Derek shook his head sadly. "It's Will, JJ. It is. I looked myself."

A small whimper escaped and she slumped into his arms. He held her gently and raised his eyes to Hotch's both men were at a loss, their world was falling to pieces. JJ's sorrow might be to much for her to bare.

Hotch had retrieved Henry from the backseat unharmed though furious at having been ignored for so long. Rocking back and forth to sooth him Hotch tried to take stock of the situation. Obviously this unsub was smart. They had known that before. The places he chose to leave the bodies and the lack of witnesses to the initial kidnappings had already established that. It also seemed that this particular killer wanted their attention why else kidnap JJ's fiancé and leave him in a federal parking garage to be found. How in the hell had he even managed that?

Just as he asked himself the question Garcia came rushing from the elevator. Flushed and wide eyed she stuttered and tripped over her tongue as she tried to explain that there was NO evidence, none. 'The camera's from the garage should have captured on tape the leaving of will's body but there wasn't any! None! His.. His body was simply not there, then it was. I think t-the tapes must be tampered with but I couldn't find it yet. I won't stop looking Sir! I promise.." she trailed off as Hotch raised his hand slightly from Henry's back to stop her from continuing.

Garcia lowered her head in temporary defeat and whimpered. "I don't know what's going on. It doesn't make any sense. My poor babies"


	4. Justice

_In this world of iniquity, they are a few gleams _

_of hope__ in the mire of our shameful _

_indulgences. Various __formulations _

_of Virtue have been __proposed over the ages. _

* * *

Reid was at a loss. Everything was .. So wrong. He was very good at dealing with facts, but this was all emotion and he didn't know how to handle it.

JJ was sitting at his desk in the bullpen and all he could do was stand looking down at her. She rocked herself back and forth to comfort herself he supposed. She'd refused to hold Henry. She wouldn't meet any of the team's eyes. She wouldn't' let any of them touch her. She'd pulled away from Morgan in the garage and walked to the elevator. He'd followed to make sure she was okay but she'd just sat herself at his desk and not moved since them. She was obviously in shock he knew that. But he didn't know what to DO about it. Didn't even know if anything could be done about it.

Hotch and Rossi motioned him over. Hotch still had Henry cradled in his arm's. He looked very natural Reid thought momentarily. Rossi spoke softy to the younger man. "Has she said anything yet?"

"No, I tried to ask her if I could do anything, but she just stares into space. I know she's in shock but I'm not sure if we should call her doctor or just wait for a little while longer. She's one of the strongest women I've ever met. She might just need some time to you know.. process." Reid looked over to JJ then back to Hotch. "Maybe you should try telling her Henry needs her?"

Hotch shook his head, "No, I think your right, we'll let her process for awhile and see if she comes out of it on her own. In the meantime, we have the medical examiner downstairs looking over the body. We also need to figure out where Roland Davis is."

Reid searched his mind quickly then cleared his throat nervous at not having an answer "uhm, Sure Hotch, just one thing? Who's Roland Davis?"

"Roland Davis is the young man that was reported two days ago, we assumed we'd be finding his body today. While it's horrible enough what's occurred we have to figure out if the unsub has him, and if so will his body show up some where else this afternoon?" Rossi stated tiredly. "I wish any of this made any sense. We find bodies in places there should be no way in hell they should possibly be left without dozens of witnesses. People disappear from public locations surrounded by possible eye witnesses. And No one see's a thing. Then to top it all off, none of these people are even remotely similar as far as surface details are concerned." Rossi was already exasperated by this case and it had barely begun. The police hadn't even asked for their help yet, though that was a moot point now that Will had been found in a federal parking structure. It had been forced into federal jurisdiction.

"We need the local police to send us all the statements and background they've already collected. I have some of the crime scene reports on my desk already, the ones they would release to me anyway. Mostly trying to convince me it wasn't a case for us." JJ's voice was empty and cold. Nothing like the soft tone they all knew. All three men swung around to look at her surprised she'd even been listening to the conversation.

"Your right, but we'll handle it, JJ you can't work this case." Hotch tried to speak gently he didn't want to drive her back into her state of shock or more hysterics.

She leveled her gaze at him. Voice still icy and devoid of inflection. "You need me Hotch. This .. Monster. Wants the world to know what he's doing. I'm the best media analyst in this agency. I can do it Hotch. Someone needs to get a hold on this story before it spins out of proportion and you have everyone in this city loosing their minds and seeing monsters under every bush. People will be calling in missing persons reports when their spouse is 15 minutes late home from work. Will was a cop he more then anyone would understand why I need to do this. He devoted his life to justice. I won't do any less in his memory. You also need to call Emily and get her in here. We need her." She moved abruptly across the room, lifted Henry from Hotch's arm's then turned sharply and moved up the stairs to her office. "I also need you to retrieve Henry's seat from the garage." She obviously felt there was no more need for discussion as she closed her office door behind her and moved to sort through the huge stack's of file's on her desk to find the ones that pertained to this case.

Reid looked from Hotch to Rossi nervously then moved away quickly to track down Garcia and see if they could figure out where Roland Davis was. Hopefully the young man was just somewhere sleeping off a bender.

Rossi raised his eyebrow and gestured vaguely in the direction of JJ's office. "Are you really going to let her work this case Hotch?"

Aaron Hotchner was many things. He'd faced down terrorists, mad men and even his own irate wife, though he'd lost that particular war. He'd learned a few things. When a woman is determined there isn't much you can do to dissuade her. That coupled with the fact that he simply couldn't just send JJ home. He'd done that once before and the consequences were dire for the whole team. If he kept JJ here, let her do the work she felt she needed to do. Perhaps he could keep her safe. If there was one thing Hotch needed to do more then anything. It was to keep them all safe. So.. He was going to call Prentiss and they were going to catch this bastard. So he simply stated. "yep" then turned and moved up the stairs to his own office to make a few calls.

It was going to be a long damn day.


	5. Fortitude

_Fortitude binds the will firmly to the good of reason in the face of the greatest evils, and the most fearful of all bodily evils is death. _

* * *

The whole team watched silently as Jennifer Jareau pinned pictures to the board in the conference room. She spoke clearly in her new slightly frightening tone. Emily had gotten there less then 20 minutes ago and JJ had insisted they start immediately. She was driven to say the least and seemed intent that they would move along at the pace she set. For now Hotch seemed to be giving her the leeway to move the case along at her speed.

"Isabella Frances, our first known victim, 32 years old. Single she lived alone in a small house in Reston. She was a high school science teacher. She was reported missing by her friends who she was supposed to meet for brunch 10 days ago. There are no signs of a struggle at her home and her car was found three blocks parked three blocks away she may very well have parked it there herself the night before. We haven't found any traffic camera's or eyewitnesses. She was found two days later sitting at a café table at the very restaurant she was supposed to visit two days prior. No witnesses to the body actually being placed. The apparent cause of death was severe torture. She was killed approximately an hour before the body was discovered. No apparent connection to the next f-four victims."

Rossi's swung to meet hotch's briefly hearing the catch in JJ's voice but neither man spoke as they waited to see if she would continue. then she does, barely skipping a beat. It's disquieting watching your friend to see when they'll break.

"Carla Vega, 22 engaged to her high school sweetheart. She was a computer specialist for the navy though not actually -- in the navy, or we'd be fighting with NCIS for the case as well as the local police. She went missing the same morning the body of Isabella Frances was found. Because she worked at the Navy Yard we have a more exact time of disappearance with her then any of the other victims. Two days later she showed up at the mall of Washington same with the other victims, no witnesses. Cause of death was again torture, she appears to have fought harder then the previous victim or it was part of the unsub's method because nearly every bone in her body was broken. Again no apparent connection."

Morgan interrupted before JJ could continue with the next victims picture and description. "You said she was found at the mall, were the camera's tampered with or has anyone checked them?"

Garcia looked up from her laptop with a frown. "yes of course they looked at them, but they don't have the same technology we have. I need to put them through my babies before I'll be able to tell if their tampered with. I can't do that in twenty minutes, find a missing man, try and access all the garage tapes and attend this meeting! My best guess at this moment is that they must have been, there's no way bodies just appear this way!"

Garcia was beginning to sound slightly hysterical as she finished her mini tirade, so Morgan gently patted her on the shoulder. She never approached the cases as clinically as they did and she was a lot more friendly with Will then most of the rest of the team, as Henry's godmother she'd spent a good deal of time with the man and had grown to be good friends.

"Can we move on to the rest of the victims please?"

JJ's voice surprised them out of their mini drama. They all nodded or mumbled their agreement and she continued.

"Elissa Jenning 13, she disappeared the same morning Carla Vega disappeared, her parents didn't report her missing because they thought she was on a trip with her best friends family. The friends family assumed that when Elissa didn't show up in time to leave that her parents had changed their minds, since they were running late they didn't call.

"Lotta guilt there" Morgan interjected.

Emily frowned at him and shook her head, "it's not their fault Morgan, what would it have done, given the police a heads up? They couldn't have done anything there are no leads and no witnesses."

"I'm just sayin!"

"Enough!" Hotch slapped his hand down on the table "We have enough to deal with, without you two fighting like children, can we please get on with it JJ?"

JJ turned back to the board and pinned the next picture as she started talking. Garcia gasped softly and covered her eyes for a moment at the sight of the ruined body of the once lovely child.

"Elissa was found Monday morning when the friends she was supposed be on her trip with returned. They found her sitting in their family room. She was tortured in their home. When the police were first called in they believed the family must have had something to do with it, but it's since been confirmed that the whole family was out of state for the entire two days. She attended 9th grade at the private school 2 blocks from her home, she didn't know any of the other victims, and obviously she doesn't fit the description of either of the previous victims."

Hotch cleared his throat and scrubbed his hands over his face. I think we need a break before we continue with the victim logy. I for one need some coffee. The rest of the team were practically out of their seats before he'd finished speaking though JJ still stood at the front of the room.

"uh.. JJ do you want us to bring you back something?" Emily asked softly trying to reach out to her friend.

"No, I want to finish this and solve this h-h-horrible case, put this Monster behind bars and try to figure out how I'm going to move on with my life. Go get your damned coffee and lets finish this!" JJ bit out sharply and turned away from her friend. She Had to be strong. Had to do this. She could afford to break later. Not Now.

* * *

I ussually don't like it when people ask for reviews, but this is my very first story, could i get a little feedback?


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